


Minotaur

by WildwoodQueen



Series: Mythology Poems [1]
Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: Free Verse, Gen, Monsters, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Mythology - Freeform, Poetry, Retelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:15:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22469248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildwoodQueen/pseuds/WildwoodQueen
Summary: A free verse poem from the perspective of the minotaur. Poor monster.(Slight content warning for... um, well... people being eaten.)
Series: Mythology Poems [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622422
Kudos: 10
Collections: Greek Mythology





	Minotaur

I was always in the labyrinth  
There were walls and corners and they cast shadows  
I was afraid of them  
Some nights I dreamed that the labyrinth  
Was a coiled serpent that  
stretched out until eternity  
And I was wrapped inside its jaws  
Until the breeze flew in from beyond the walls and I  
tasted the salt  
And woke again.

Once I heard that my mother  
Mother? Silly.  
My mother was a queen  
In my sleep  
My brothers and sisters would come  
To me  
And crown me  
Prince.

I chewed on the grass  
In the night  
when sky was dark like blood  
when I was afraid  
which was often.  
And I would count the smiling daisies that were  
Springing up from the soil  
My friends and spring spirits  
Who would always be with me

Monster they called me  
I could hear sometimes  
If I listened carefully  
What terror lies in the centre of the labyrinth?  
What fear! What dread!  
What must we do  
to keep us from the beast?

Monster they called me  
Were they right?  
I did not know

That was when they came  
Seven youths  
Seven maidens  
Flowers of Athens

They howled and screamed  
They said this beast — this  
thing — this creature from beyond the night  
What are you?  
Beast  
Monster  
Monster monster monster

Monster they called me  
Were they right?  
Of course they were  
What terror lies in the centre of the labyrinth?  
I am the fear and the dread  
Monster I am and monster I will be  
I am the beast that howls in the night  
Crown me  
Prince of Rage  
And in my sorrow and teeth and jaws  
None can harm me

So I ate them  
Every one of them  
I bit and gnawed and hacked and gorged and  
I tasted the salt  
in the blood  
in my mouth and the  
lives that flickered and died in my jaws and  
I took  
And I cried and cried and cried  
And I sat down on the grass  
And began to count daisies…


End file.
